I love mulch, too, although I spread mine in the fall after my annual Happy Plant Hokey Pokey where I rearrange everything. I just do touch ups in the spring. I like how finished it makes everything look and it keeps the soil moist. :o) Your bed looks lovely.

do you clear away last fall's leaf mulch first? for awhile i used a mulch called 'dark fine fir bark' that assisted me in pretending that i had super rich soil, though underneath the mulch was very sandy loam. went from that to even more infertile decomposed granite where i am not presently succeeding at putting a two inch layer of composed dairy manure everywhere in my garden. A nice compost layer has fostered a bumper crop of centipedes that have brought the vine weevil larvae under control.

I have to remove the leaves first because they are mostly the indestructible pin oak variety courtesy of our neighbors. This "compost" is actually made from the yard debris collection from City of Portland. It's also going to amend my clay soil in the new beds as I plant.